Round feeding mechanism for an automatic gun



y 0, 1967 E. w. JAFwERT 3,322,036

ROUND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR AN AUTOMATIC GUN Filed July 30, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 1 4 EIG, 2 mvzwron ERIK W/LHELM \JA'FWERT ay 30, 1967 E. w.JAFWERT 3,322,035

ROUND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR AN AUTOMATIC GUN Filed July 30, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ERIK W/L HELM JAIIIFWERT' A 77am); v:

May 30, 1967 E. w. JAFWERT 3,322,035

ROUND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR AN AUTOMATIC GUN 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July30, 1965 FIG. 4

mvm ron ERIK W/L HELM IJAFWERT ATTORNEYS May 30, 1967 E. w. JAFWERT 3, IROUND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR AN AUTOMATIC GUN Filed July 30, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR ERIK W/LHELM JAM/Ear A-r-r'anuscr's y 1967 E. w.JAFWERT 3,322,036

ROUND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR AN AUTOMATIC GUN Filed July 50, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet INVEQI TOR EE/K w/z. HELM JAFWERT BY H United States Patent3,322,036 ROUND FEEDING ltiECHANISM FOR AN AUTOMATIC GUN Erik Wilhelm.l'iifwert, Karlskoga, Sweden, assignor to Aktieboiaget Bofors, Bofors,Sweden, a Swedish Corn- Filed July 30, 1965, Ser. No. 475,939 Claimspriority, application Sweden, Aug. 14, 1964, 9,883/ 64 6 Claims. (Cl.89-45) The present invention is related to a round feeding mechanism foran automatic gun, in particular for an antiaircraft automatic gun, ofthe type in which the rounds are fed to a ramming position locatedwithin the breech casing rearwards of the recoiling and recuperating gunbarrel and breech ring, from a round magazine attached to the breechcasing. In the hitherto most widely used anti-aircraft automatic guns ofthis type, the round magazine is mostly located immediately above theramming position and comprises a single magazine compartment, in whichthe rounds are stacked one above the other in the same vertical plane asthe barrel of the gun. From this magazine the rounds can consequently befed one by one directly down to the ramming position. A round magazineof this type can however hold only a comparatively small number ofrounds. Therefore it is desired to make it possible to arrange the roundmagazine at the side of the vertical plane, in which the barrel of thegun is disposed, in which case the round magazine can be arranged tocomprise a plurality of vertical round compartments disposed side byside, whereby the number of rounds in the magazine can be considerablyincreased. The separate compartments in the round magazine are thenemptied one by one in that the rounds in the compartments are fedvertically downwards and out from each compartment at the lower end ofthe compartment. With a round magazine of this type, however, the roundsmust from the lower end of the round compartments be fed transversely tothe ramming position, that is in a direction perpendicular to thevertical plane, in which the barrel of the gun is disposed. The traversefeeding of the rounds from the round magazine can, however, not be madedirectly to the ramming position, as this position is for the largerpart of the time utilized for the traverse feeding of a round occupiedby another round just being rammed, or by the ramming mechanism, or byan empty case being ejected, or by the guide means for the ejected caserespectively. The guide means for the ejected case can for instanceconsist of a loading tray, a so-called shift tongue, which is pivotalbetween a lower position, in which the upper side of the shift tongue isoperating as ramming path for a round being rammed, and an upperposition, in which the lower side of the shift tongue is serving as aguide path for the empty case being ejected. For this reason thetraverse feeding of the rounds from the round magazine disposed at theone side is made to a ready or intermediate position, in which the roundis lying substantially parallel to but above the ramming position andfrom which the round can be fed directly downwards to the rammingposition on the shift tongue.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a mechanismfor an automatic gun of the type defined above for the down-feeding of around located in the ready position to the ramming position on the shifttongue or loading tray. Such a down-feed mechanism should preferably notbe arranged at the one side of the round to be down-fed, as it shouldpreferably be possible to arrange round magazines on both sides of thegun, wherefore the traverse feeding of rounds from the round magazinesto the ready position must be possible from both sides. Furthermore, thedown-feed mechanism should not be arranged at the one side of the roundto be downfed for the reason that it is preferable that the total widthof the gun is kept as small as possible, as it is in certain casesdesired that two barrels can be coupled together to one gun unit.Furthermore, the down-feeding should preferably be carried out by theaid of the recoil force of the gun, just as in the down-feedingmechanism previously used for anti-aircraft automatic guns provided witha single round compartment located straight above the ramming position,in which the down-feeding mechanism is driven from a down-feeder spring,which is tensioned by the recoil force. In the down-feeding mechanismfor this previously used type of round magazine the down-feeder springhas been arranged to be tensioned during the recoil movement of the gunand also to be released during this recoil movement, as the down-feedingof the new round to the ramming position must be carried out during therecoil movement. In automatic guns having a high rate of tire, however,it has been found to be difiicult to provide time to tension as well asrelease the down-feeder spring during the short recoil period. Thereforeit is de sired that the down-feeding mechanism is so designed that thedown-feeder spring driving the down-feeding mechanism can be tensionedduring the recuperation of the barrel by the aid of the energy stored inthe recuperator spring during the recoil movement.

The present invention provides a down-feeding mechanism of the typementioned above, which satisfies the above mentioned desired objects andwhich also in other respects has been found to be advantageous and havea reliable operation. A mechanism according to the invention for feedinga round located in the ready position down to the ramming position,comprises a bell crank lever disposed in the same vertical plane as thegun barrel above the ready position and pivotal about a non-recoilingshaft perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the barrel so thatthe one arm of the bell crank lever can be brought to bear against thecylindrical surface of a round located in the ready position and to pushthe round downwards into the ramming position, and a coil spring locatedin the same vertical plane and connected between the second arm of thebell crank lever and the one arm of a double-armed lever, which ispivoted about a nonrecoiling shaft perpendicular to the longitudinaldirection of the barrel and the second arm of which is coacting with arecoiling cam path in such a way that the double-armed lever is rotatedin such a direction about its axis during the recuperating movement ofthe barrel that the coil spring is compressed.

In the following the invention will be further described with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which by way of example a preferredform of a round feeding mechanism according to the invention is shown.In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows schematically the rear portion of an anti-aircraftautomatic gun with its breech casing, barrel, breech ring, roundmagazine and down-feeding mechanism seen in perspective from the rearand with certain parts illustrated as transparent;

FIG. 2' shows schematically the feeding mechanism for the traversefeeding ofthe rounds frorn' the round magazine to the ready position andthe down-feeding of the rounds from the ready position to the rammingposition, seen'from the rear and in the longitudinal direction 1 of thebarrel;

' FIG. 3'shows' the down-feeding mechanism in detail and partially insection and those parts of the-breech ring of the gun, which arecooperating with the down feeding mechanism, in. the; operationalpositionioccupi'ed by the down-feeding mechanism atthe beginning of the.recuperation movement of'the barrel;

FIG. 4 shows the same parts as FIG. 3 with the l down-feedingmechanismiin the position occupied at the end of the recuperationmovement;

FIG. 5 shows the same parts as FIGS. 3 andd but all. nism and its modeof operation will be described in detail in the following with referenceto FIGS. 3--7.

Around magazine 16 participating in the elevation movementof the gunbarrel is'disposed at the one side I of the breech casing.Theroundmagazine comprises several vertical. round compartments disposedside by side. In the example of theinvention shown the magazine16comprises six round compartments each capable ofholding nine roundsdisposed one above the other.

For the sake of simplicity FIGJI shows'only theouten most roundcompartment filled with rounds 17, whereas in the remaining compartmentonly the lowermost rounds 1 18 are shown. The roundsare fed from theround maga-' zine 16 to the ready position immediately below thedownfeeder 10 by a reciprocating traverse feeder 19.

The feedingof rounds from the round magazine to the readyposition andfurther to the ramming position with the downfeeding mechanism in theposition occu- 1 pied during the beginning of the recoil movement of thebarrel;

FIG. 6 shows the same part'sas FIGS. 3, 4 and .5 with the down-feedingmechanism in the position occupied at the end of the down-feedingmovement; and

FIG- 7 shows adetail of the down feeding mechanism.

round5' resting onthe loading tray while being rammed.

' The loading tray is assumed to be a so-called shift tongue, I which ispivotal about .a shaft 6 in the breech casing be- I tween the positionshown in FIG; 1, in which the :upper side of the shift tongue is servingas a ramming path for a round 5, and a somewhat raised positioininwhich; the i I lower side of the shift tongue can serve as a guide pathI for anempty case being ejectedfrom the breech ring. The rounds are fedone after another onto the shift tongue 4 from a ready position locatedstraight above the shift tongue. A round 7 is shown in this readyposition. The down-feeding of a round from the ready position to theramming position on the shift tongue 4 is carried out by a down-feedingmechanism according to the invention, which comprises, as schematicallyshown in FIG. 1, a down-feed lever 8 generally shaped as a bell cranklever, which is disposed straight above the ready position in the samevertical plane as the ready position and the shift tongue and is pivotalabout a stationary shaft 9 in the breech casing perpendicular to thelongitudinal direction of the barrel. The one end of the down-feed lever8 carries a down-feeder 10, which will bear against the upper side ofthe cylindrical surface of a round 7 located in the ready position, whenthe down-feed lever is pivoted in the clockwise direction in FIG. 1about the shaft 9, and push the round downwards onto the shift tongue4-. The necessary force for the down-feeding is supplied by adown-feeder spring 11, which is connected between the second arm of thedown-feed lever 8 and a spring tensioning lever 12 in shape of adouble-armed lever pivoted about a stationary shaft 13 in the breechcasing perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the barrel. Thecompressing or tensioning of the down-feeder spring 11 is effected inthat the other end 14 of the lever 12 is cooperating with a cam path onthe breech ring 2 in such a way that the lever 12 is rotated inclockwise direction about the shaft 13 during the recuperation movementof the barrel and the breech ring, whereby the down-feeder spring 11will be compressed. Further a resetting spring 15 is connected with itsone end to the down-feed lever 3 and with its opposite end to the breechcasing in such a way that it is compressed during the down-feed movementof the down-feed lever 8. The down-feeding mecha- 'on'the' shift tongueis principle carried out in the manner schematically shown inFIG. 2. FIG2 shows the round magazine 16 with the three lowermost. of the rounds 17in the outermost round compartment in the magazine and the lowermostrounds 1 8 in the five remain i ing compartments of the magazine. Thetraverse feeder 19 consists inprinciple of a reciprocating slide 20,which is; located immediately below the round. compartments and isprovided with one feeder pays/i121 for each corn partment. FIG. Zshowsthe slide 20 in its left-hand end position, in which, the slide has justdelivered around 7 I I to the ready position below the down-feeder 10.The

rounds in the. round; compartments of the magazine are subject to adownwards directedforce from means not shown in the drawing, whereforeduring the movement ofthe slide 20 to the left and. thefeeding of around to the ready position'the rounds 17 in'the outermost compartmentwill be'fcd one; ste p'vertically downwards so that a new round is fedonto the slide 20. When the slide '20 is returning to the right, theresiliently mounted feeder pawn 21' wilip'ass under the lowermostroundsin the round compartment, The, round compartments of the magazine areconsequently'emptied one by one, starting with the outermostcompartment. The round 7 fed to the ready position is kept in thisposition by a locking device consisting of two flaps 22, which arepivoted about two mutually parallel axes and are spring-loaded towardseach other. During the down-feed movement of the downfeeder 10 the round7 in the ready position is pushed downwards between the flaps, which arepivoted from each other as indicated by arrows 23, down onto the shifttongue 4 under the ready position.

The down-feeding mechanism and its operation will be described in detailwith reference to FIGS. 3-7. FIG. 3 shows the down-feeding mechanism anda part of the breech ring 2 and the rear end of the barrel 1 in theposition occupied by these parts at the beginning of the recuperation ofthe barrel and the breech ring after a recoil movement. In order toobtain a better view of the arrangement the major part of the breechcasing has been left out, but in the following description it will bepointed out, which members are mounted in the breech casing andconsequently do not take part in the recoil movement. Furthermore, theshift tongue 4 and the flaps 22 have been omitted in FIG. 3 for the sakeof simplicity.

In the position illustrated in FIG. 3, a round has just been fed down bythe down-feeding mechanism from the ready position onto the shift tongue(not shown) and this round is just being rammed during the recuperationmovement of the barrel and the breech ring just started. Further thedown-feed lever 8 with the down-feeder 10 has returned to its startingposition, in which the downfeeder 10 is in its highest position. No newround has yet, however, been fed from the round magazine into the readyposition underneath the down-feeder 10 and the ready position isconsequently empty. As seen in FIG. .3, the down-feed lever 8 is shapedas a bell crank lever pivoted about a shaft 9, which is substantiallyperpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the barrel 1 and which ismounted in the breech casing and consequently does not participate inthe recoil movement. The down-feeder is mounted on the rear arm of thedown-feeder lever in such way that it can be pivoted about a shaft 24 inthe lever '8, which shaft is parallel to shaft 9. At its upper end thedown-feeder 10 is provided with two guide rollers 25 running in guideslots 26 in a buffer casing 27 stationary mounted in the breech casing.Only the rearmost of the guide slots 26 is shown in FIG. 3. Thesestationary guide slots 26 give the lower end of the down-feeder 10,which is bearing against the cylindrical surface of a round during thedown-feed movement, the desired path during the down-feed movement. Themovement of the down-feeder 10 and thus the down-feed lever '8 islimited in the down-feed direction by two abutment levers 28 for theguide roller 25. The abutment levers 28 are pivoted in the buffer casing27 and their opposite ends are bearing against butter springs 29 mountedin the buffer casing 27. In the opposite or reset direction the movementof the down-feeder 10 and the down-feed lever 8 is limited by twocorresponding abutment levers 39 for the guide rollers 25 pivoted in thebuffer casing with their opposite ends bearing against a buffer spring31 mounted in the buffer casing 27. A reset spring device is alsoconnected to the rear arm of a down-feed lever 8. This reset springdevice consists of a cylindrical spring casing 32 attached to the breechcasing and a rod 33 reciprocatable in the spring casing. The rod 33 isattached to the down-feed lever 8 and a coil spring 34 is mounted in thespring casing between the one end Wall of the spring casing and the rod33 in such a way that it is compressed during the down-feed movement ofthe down-feed lever. In the position shown in FIG. 3 the reset springdevice 15 has just returned the down-feed lever 8 and the down-feeder 10from the down-feed position to their highest position and the spring 34is consequently expanded.

The down-feeder spring device 11 consists of a cylindrical spring casing35 having its one end pivoted in the upper arm of the down-feed lever 8and a rod 36 rec1procating in the spring casing 35. The end of the rod36 projecting from the spring casing is pivoted in the one arm 37 v ofdouble-armed lever 12. The double-armed lever is pivoted about a shaft13, which is mounted stationary in the breech casing and isperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the barrel 1. The down-feederspring 38 is mounted in the spring casing 35 between the one end wall ofthe spring casing and a shoulder 39 on the rod 36 so that it will becompressed or tensioned, when the distance between the arm 37 and theupper arm of the down-feed lever 8 is reduced. In the position shown inFIG. 3 the down-feeder spring 38 has just expanded during the down-feedmovement and has not yet been retensioned, wherefore it is in itsexpanded position. The other arm 14 of lever 12 is provided with aroller 40 at the outer end of the arm. This roller is coacting with acam path 41 on the breech ring 2. In the position shown in FIG. 3,however, the barrel 1 and the breech ring 2 have not yet been movedforward so far that the cam path 41 has reached and engaged the roller40, wherefore the arm 37 of level 12 connected to the rod 36 in thespring device 11 is in its left-hand end position. The arm 37 wasbrought to this position, when the down-feed lever 8 and the down-feeder10 were returned to their upper position by the reset spring device 15,as will be described more in detail in the following.

The down-feeding mechanism comprises further a catch lever 42, mountedon a sleeve 43, which is rotatable about a shaft 44 mounted in thebreech casing. The sleeve 43 is provided with a lever 45, to which alink rod 46 is pivoted. A coil spring 47 is disposed around the link rod46 between the end of the link rod 46 connected to the arm 45 and thebreech casing and the spring 47 will consequently try to rotate thesleeve 43 with the catch lever 42 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 3about the shaft 44.

The catch lever 42 is consequently resting against the upper side of thelink rod 36 connected to the arm 37 under the influence of the spring 47and will consequently snap down behind the arm 37, if this is rotated 21sufficient angle in the clockwise direction in FIG. 3 about the shaft13, and in this position the catch lever 42 will lock the arm 37 andthus the rod 36 with the spring seat 39 for the down-feeder spring 38 inthis new position, as will be described more in detail in the following.The other end of the link rod 46 is pivoted to a lever 48 rotatableabout the shaft 9. As seen more clearly in FIG. 7, the downfeed lever 8is provided with an engaging lug 49 for the lever 48 so that at the endof the down-feed movement of the down-feed lever 8 the lug 49 willengage the lever 48 and pivot it about the shaft 9 in the direction ofthe rotation of down-feed lever 3, whereby through the link rod 46, thelever and the sleeve 43 the catch lever 42 is rotated in thecounter-clockwise direction in FIG. 3 about the shaft 44, so that thecatch lever 42 is brought to the position shown in FIG. 3, in which itreleases the lever 37.

The down-feed mechanism comprises also a check or locking device for thedown-feed lever 8. This check device comprises a check lever 51 pivotedabout a stationary shaft in the breech casing and provided at its oneend with a check pawl 52 pivoted in the check lever. A spring mounted ina tube 53 in a stationary wall 54 in the breech casing is hearingagainst the lower side of the check pawl 52 and the spring 55 willconsequently try to rotate the check lever and the check pawl to theposition shown in FIG. 3, in which the check pawl 52 is lying in frontof the end wall of the spring casing 35 connected to the down-feed lever8. In this way the check pawl 52 prevents any displacement of the springcasing 35 to the right in FIG. 3 and thus any rotation of the down-feedlever 8 in the clockwise direction about the shaft 9. The movement ofthe check lever 51 is limited by a stationary wall 56 in the breechcasing, against the upper side of which wall the end of the check leveropposite to the check pawl 52 will come to rest. When the down-feedingmechanism is released, however, the check pawl 52 and the check lever 51can be pushed aside against the action of the spring 55 by the end wallof the spring casing 35, which is then displaced by the downfeederspring 38 to the right in FIG. 3 and rotates the down-feed lever 8 inthe clockwise direction about the shaft 9, as will be described more indetail in the following:

In the position shown in FIG. 3, however, the check lever 51 is lockedin its checking position by two looking levers 57 and 58. The lockinglever 57 is mounted on a sleeve 59, which is rotatable about the shaft 9and provided with a downwards pointing operating lever 60 engaging aforked lever 61 mounted on a sleeve 63 rotatable about a stationaryshaft 62 in the breech casing. A link rod 64 reciprocatable in openingin the wall 54 is connected with its one end to the forked lever 61. Acoil spring 65 is disposed about the link rod 64 to act between the wall54 and the forked lever 61 and will consequently endeavour to rotate theforked lever in the clockwise direction in FIG. 3 about the shaft 62.The locking lever 57 will consequently try to rotate under the influenceof the spring 65 in the counter-clockwise direction in FIG. 3 about theshaft 9, that is to a position underneath the end of the check lever 51,to lock the check lever. The sleeve 63 is provided with a feeler arm 66,which will be affected, as to be described more in detail in thefollowing, 'by a round fed to the ready position underneath thedown-feeder 10 in such a way that the feeder arm rotates the sleeve 63and thus the forked lever 61 in the counter-clockwise direction aboutthe shaft 62. The locking lever 57 is then rotated in the clockwisedirection about the shaft 9 in FIG. 3 so as to release the check lever51. The locking lever 57 is consequently locking the check lever 51 inits checking position so long as no round is present in the readyposition underneath the down-feeder 10. When, however, a round ispresent under the down-feeder to be fed down to the ramming position onthe shift tongue, the locking lever 57 will release the check lever 51.The second locking lever 58 for the check lever 51 is also mounted on asleeve 67 rotatable about the shaft 9. The sleeve 67 is attached to adownwards pointing operating lever 68, to which a link rod 69 reciprocalin a vertically elongated opening in the wall 54 is connected. A coilspring 70 is disposed around the link rod 69 to act between the wall 54and the end of the link rod 69 connected to the lever 68 and willconsequently try to rotate the sleeve 67 with the locking lever 58 inthe counter-clockwise direction in FIG. 3 about the shaft 9, that is toa position locking the check lever 51 in its checking position. Theouter end of the link rod 69 is provided with a block 71 having a doglegged cam slot 72, in which a cylindrical pin 73 is displaceable. Thepin 73 is monuted in a forked lever 74 attached to a sleeve 75 rotatableabout a stationary shaft 76 in the breech casing The sleeve 75 isprovided with a control lever 77, the end of which is projecting throughan elongated slot into a stationary tube 79 mounted in the breechcasing. Within the tube 79 the end of the control lever 77 is lyingbetween two slides 80 and 81, the upper one being pressed against thecontrol lever 77 by a coil spring 82 mounted in the tube 79. The lowerslide 81 has its lower end resting against the upper side of the breechring 2, which has this portion of its surface shaped to act as a campath for the slide 81 during the recoil and the recuperation movement ofthe breech ring. Close to the block 71 a bell crank 84 is pivoted abouta stationary shaft 83 in the breech casing. The bell crank 84 isaffected by a coil spring S5 mounted around the shaft of the bell crankin such a way that the bell crank 84 endeavours to rotate in thecounter-clockwise direction about the shaft 83 in FIG. 3. The rotationof the bell crank 84 about the shaft 83 is limited by the wall 56 in thebreech casing, against the lower side of which the horizontal arm of thebell crank will come to rest. The bell crank 84 is so located relativeto the block 71 that the horizontal arm of the bell crank can be broughtto bear against the upper side of the block, whereas the downwardspointing arm of the bell crank can be brought to bear against the lefthand vertical side of the slotted block 71. The operation of the lockinglever 58 for the check lever 51 and of the control means for thislocking lever will be described more in detail in the following.

FIG. 4 shows the subsequent position of the down feeding mechanism, whenthe recuperation of the barrel and the breech ring is almost completed.During the recuperation of the barrel and the breech ring from theposition shown in FIG. 3 to the position shown in FIG. 4, the roller 40on the arm 14- of the cocking lever 12 has climbed the cam path 41 onthe breech ring 2. Here by the cocking lever has been rotated in theclockwise direction in FIG. 4 about the shaft 13. At the beginning ofthis rotation of the arm 37 about the shaft 13 the spring casing 35 ofthe down-feeder spring device 11 was displaced to the right in FIG. 4,until it was stopped by the check pawl 52 in the check lever 51. In thisposition the spring casing 35 cannot push the check lever 51 and thecheck pawl 52 aside, as the check lever 51 is locked in its checkingposition by the two locking levers 58 and 57 as already described inconnection with FIG. 3. The further rotation of the arm 37 in aclockwise direction about the shaft 13 will consequently cause adisplacement of the rod 36 to the right in FIG. 4- into the springcasing 35 and thus a compression of the down-feeder spring 38. In theposition shown in FIG. 4 the down-feeder spring 38 is fully compressedand the arm 37 has been rotated so far about the shaft 13 that it haspassed the forward end of the catch lever 42 and this has consequentlybeen snapped down behind the arm 37 by the spring 47 in the mannerpreviously described. In the position shown in FIG. 4 the breech ringhas been moved so far forward that the slide 81 in the tube 79 has lostits contact with the upper side 2 of the breech ring. As a consequencehere of the control lever 77 has been rotated under the action of thespring 84 in the sleeve 79 together with the sleeve 75 and the forkedlever 74 in a clockwise direction about the shaft 76. Due to this theforked lever 74 has moved the pin 73 from the left-hand end of the camslot 72 in the block 71 to the right-hand end of the slot and theslotted block 71 has been pressed upwards by a spring 86 mounted withinthe forked lever 74 and acting against the lower side of block 71 sothat the pin 73 is nOW positioned in the lower end of the verticalportion of the cam slot 72. This has not, however, caused anydisplacement of the link rod 69 in its longitudinal direction, whereforethe locking lever 58 is still lying under the end of the check lever 51and consequently keeping the check lever and the check pawl 52 locked intheir checking position. In the meantime a round 7 has been fed, in themanner already described, from the round magazine to the ready positionunderneath the down-feeder cam, in which position the round is kept, asalready described, by the flaps 22, which are for the sake of simplicitynot shown in FIG. 4. When the round 7 is fed into 'the ready position,it will affect the feeler arm 66 in such a way that the feeler arm isrotated together with the sleeve 63 and the forked lever 61 in acounter-clockwise direction about the shaft 62 against the action of thespring 65 on the link rod 64. This rotation of the forked lever 61causes that the control lever 60 is rotated together with the sleeve 59and the locking lever 57 in a clockwise direction about the shaft 9,whereby the locking lever 57 is removed from the end of the check lever51, which is consequently released by the locking lever 57.

In the position shown in FIG. 4 a round has also been rammed into theloading chamber of the gun and the gun can be fired. When the round isfired, the barrel and the breech ring will recoil and FIG. 5 shows theposition during the recoil movement, when the down-feed of the round 7from the ready position onto the shift tongue has just started.

As can be seen from FIG. 5, the down-feeding is started, when the breechring 2 during the recoil has been moved so far rearwards that theportion of the upper side of the breech ring serving as a cam path isengaging the slide 81 in the tube 79 and pushes the slide upwards in thetube against the action of the spring 82. The operating lever 77 is thenrotated together with the sleeve 75 and the forked lever 74 in acounter-clockwise direction in FIG. 5 about the shaft 76. The slottedblock 71 is kept pressed upwards by the spring 86 so that the pin 73will remain at the lower end of the vertical portion of the cam slot 72in the block and the rotation of the forked lever 74 in acounter-clockwise direction will consequently displace the slotted block71 together with the link rod 69 to the left in FIG. 5 against theaction of the spring mounted on the rod 69. This causes that the sleeve69 is rotated together with the locking lever 58 in a clockwisedirection about the shaft 9 so that the locking lever is disengaged fromthe end of the check lever 51. As a consequence hereof the spring casing35 of the down-feeder spring device 11 can now, under the influence ofthe tensioned or compressed downfeeder spring 38, push the check pawl 52and the check lever 51 aside so that the down-feeder spring 38 willexpand and move the spring casing 35 to the right in FIG. 5. It is to beobserved that the rod 36 with the spring seat 39 cannot be moved to theleft due to the catch lever 42 lying behind the arm 37. When the springcasing 35 is displaced to the right in FIG. 5, the down-feed lever 8 isrotated in a clockwise direction about the shaft 9, whereby thedown-feeder 19 attached to the down-feed lever 8 is pressed downwardsguided by the guide rollers 25 running in the guide slots 26. Thedown-feeder 10 will bear against the upper side of the cylindricalsurface of the round 7 located between the flaps 22 and push the roundbetween the spring-loaded flaps 22 downwards onto the shift tongue 4,which is at this stage in its raised position so that its lower side canserve as a guide path for the empty case just being ejected. During thisdown-feed movement the rod 33 in the reset spring device 15 is drawn outfrom the spring casing 32 so that the reset spring 34 is compressed.

FIG. 6 shows the position of the down-feeding mechanism at the end ofthe down-feed movement. The down feeder spring 38 in the spring device11 has been completely expanded and has its largest length and thedownfeed lever 8 has been rotated in the clockwise direction about theshaft 9 to its lower end position as determined by the abutment levers28 in the buffer casing 27, whereby the down-feeder 10 has pushed theround 7 downwards between the two flaps onto the shift tongue. For thesake of simplicity neither the flaps or the shift tongue are shown inFIG. 6. Due to the rotation of the down-feed lever 8 the reset spring 34in the reset spring device 15 has been completely compressed. At the endof the downfeed movement the engagement lug 49 on the down-feed lever 8(see FIG. 7) has engaged the lever 48 rotatable about the shaft 9,whereby this lever has been rotated in a clockwise direction about theshaft 9 in FIG. 6 and thus through the link rod 46 rotated the sleeve 43together with the catch lever 42 in a counter-clockwise direction aboutthe shaft 44, so that the catch lever 42 has been disengaged from thearm 37 of lever 12. Furthermore, the roller 40 on the arm 14 of lever 12has now left its cam path 41 on the breech ring 2, wherefore the lever12 can now be rotated in a counter-clockwise direction about the shaft13. As the round 7 has been removed from the ready position during thedown-feed process, the feeler arm 66 has been released and the sleeve 63has been rotated together with the forked lever 61 in acounter-clockwise direction about the shaft 62 under the action of thespring 65. Hereby the operating lever 60 has been rotated together withthe sleeve 59 and the locking lever 57 in a counter-clockwise directionabout the shaft 9 so that the locking lever 57 has been returned to itslocking position under the end of the check lever 51. During thecontinued recoil movement of the breech ring 2, the slide 81 within thetube 79 has been pushed so far upwards into the tube by the upper sideof the breech ring 2 that the operating lever 77 has been rotatedtogether with the sleeve 75 and the forked lever 74 further in thecounter-clockwise direction about the shaft 76. Due to this furtherrotation of the forked lever 74 the slotted block 71 has, as mostclearly seen in FIG. 5, been moved so far to the left in FIG. that ithas engaged the downwards pointing arm of the bell crank 84 and therebyrotated the bell crank in the clockwise direction about the shaft 83against the action of the coil spring 85. The horizontal arm of the bellcrank 84 will thereby bear against the upper side of the slotted block71 and push it downwards against the action of the spring 86 in theforked lever 74. Hereby the pin 73 has been disengaged from the verticalportion of the cam slot 72, wherefore the block 71 has together with thelink rod 69 and under the action of the spring 70 on the link rod beenmoved to the right in FIGS. 5 and 6 to the position shown in FIG. 6. Dueto this the lever 68 has been rotated together with the sleeve 67 andthe locking lever 58 in a counter-clockwise direction about the shaft 9so that the locking lever 58 has been returned to its locking positionunder the check lever 51, which has consequently been pivoted about itsshaft 50 to its checking position. The check pawl 52 in the check lever51 is however not yet in its checking position but is resting againstthe lower side of the cylindrical surface of the spring casing 35.

As the down-feeder spring 38 is completely expanded in this position,the reset spring 34 will start to expand and rotate the down-feed lever8 in a counter-clockwise direction about the shaft 9 and thereby raisethe downfeeder 10, which is guided by the guide rollers 25 running inthe guide slots 26. During this resetting of the down-feeder caused bythe reset spring 34 the down-feeder spring device 11 is moved as a unitto the left in FIG. 6, which is possible as the catch lever 42 has beenswung aside as already described. The spring device 11 is moved to theposition shown in FIG. 3 and already described and will reach thisposition, when the reset spring 34 is completely expanded and hasreturned the down-feed lever 8 together with the down-feeder 10 to theiroriginal position. In this way a complete downfeed cycle is completedand will be repeated, when the recuperation movement of the barrel andthe breech ring is started.

What is claimed is:

1. A round feeding mechanism for an automatic gun, in which the roundsare fed from a round magazine located at the one side of the verticalplane, in which the barrel of the gun is located, in a directionsubstantially perpendicular to said vertical plane and to thelongitudinal direction of the rounds to a ready position, in which theround is substantially parallel to and located above a ramming positionfor the rounds in the rear prolongation of the barrel, for feeding around located in said ready position downwards to said ramming position,comprising a bell crank lever disposed in said vertical plane above saidready position and pivoted about a non-recoiling axis perpendicular tothe longitudinal direction of said barrel, whereby one arm of said bellcrank lever can be brought to bear against the upper side of thecylindrical surface of a round located in said ready position and topush said round downwards into said ramming position, a double-armedlever having a first arm and a second arm and being pivoted about anon-recoiling axis perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of saiddouble-armed lever, a coil spring disposed in said vertical plane andconnected between the second arm of said bell crank lever and said firstarm of said double-armed lever and a recoiling cam path co-acting withsaid second arm of said doublearmed lever so as to rotate saiddouble-armed lever in such a direction about its axis of rotation duringthe recuperation movement of said barrel that said coil spring iscompressed.

2. A round feeding mechanism as claimed in claim 1, comprising a checkmeans for checking said bell crank lever in a position, in which saidone arm of said bell crank lever is in its uppermost position, andspring means urging said check means towards their checking position.

3. A round feeding mechanism as claimed in claim 2, comprising first andsecond separate locking means for locking said check means for said bellcrank lever in their checking position, feeler means affected by a roundlocated in said ready position to release said first locking means torelease said check means, when a round is present in said readyposition, and recoiling means cooperating with said second locking meansto release said check means at a predetermined stage during the recoilmovement of said barrel, said check means being free, when released bysaid first and second locking means, to be pushed aside under theinfluence of said coil spring acting upon said bell crank lever againstthe action of said spring means urging said check means towards theirchecking position.

4. A round feeding mechanism as claimed in claim 1, comprising catchmeans self-locking in their catch position for catching saiddouble-armed lever in the position occupied by it, when said barrel isfully recuperated, means for urging said catch means towards their catchposition and means responsive to the movement of said ll bell cranklever for withdrawing said catch means to release said double-armedlever at the end of the downfeed movement of said bell crank lever.

5. A round feeding mechanism as claimed in claim 1, comprising springmeans connected to said bell crank lever so as to be tensioned duringthe down-feed movement of said bell crank lever.

6. A round feeding mechanism as claimed in claim 1, comprising adown-feeder member pivoted in said one arm of said bell crank leverabout an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of said bell crank leverso as to bear against the cylindrical surface of a round during2,724,997 11/1955 Carlsson 89-33 2,781,696 2/1957 Shonts et al. 89332,988,963 6/1961 Goodhue 89-33 10 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, PrimaryExaminer.

S. C. BENTLEY, Assistant Examiner.

1. A ROUND FEEDING MECHANISM FOR AN AUTOMATIC GUN, IN WHICH THE ROUNDSARE FED FROM A ROUND MAGAZINE LOCATED AT THE ONE SIDE OF THE VERTICALPLANE, IN WHICH THE BARREL OF THE GUN IS LOCATED, IN A DIRECTIONSUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID VERTICAL PLANE AND TO THELONGITUDINAL DIRECTION OF THE ROUNDS TO A READY POSITION, IN WHICH THEROUND IS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO AND LOCATED ABOVE A RAMMING POSITIONFOR THE ROUNDS IN THE REAR PROLONGATION OF THE BARREL, FOR FEEDING AROUND LOCATED IN SAID READY POSITION DOWNWARDS TO SAID RAMMING POSITION,COMPRISING A BELL CRANK LEVER DISPOSED IN SAID VERTICAL PLANE ABOVE SAIDREADY POSITION AND PIVOTED ABOUT A NON-RECOILING AXIS PERPENDICULAR TOTHE LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION OF SAID BARREL, WHEREBY ONE ARM OF SAID BELLCRANK LEVER CAN BE BROUGHT TO BEAR AGAINST THE UPPER SIDE OF THECYLINDRICAL SURFACE OF A ROUND